Ortiz Back To DL, Red Sox Hopeful He Can Return This Season
BOSTON (CBS) - After returning for just one game, Red Sox DH David Ortiz is heading back to the disabled list.
The team is not ruling out their leading hitter returning by the end of the season though.
"We have expectations that he'll be back depending on how this treatment goes," manager Bobby Valentine said Monday morning. "The treatment will last a week or so where he won't be able to play, so we'll give him the full benefit to 15 days, retroactive to the last time he played (on Friday), and see if we can't get him back before the end of the season."
Ortiz will receive an injection on his ailing right Achilles on Monday, and will not travel west with the team following Monday's game. He is expected to join the club on their nine-game road trip, which begins Tuesday against the Angels.
But with Ortiz wanting to get back on the field this season, Valentine said the team felt it wasn't in their best interest to shut him down the rest of the way.
"With the meeting of the minds -- with David wanting to get back in uniform and the medical staff thinking there is a chance he could, we figured that's the best way to go," Valentine said.
Ortiz re-aggravated his right Achilles strain Friday night against the Kansas City Royals, a game in which he smacked a double and drove in two runs. He missed 35 games after the injury landed him on the DL on July 17, with Boston going 13-22 during his absence.
He made his return to the lineup Friday night after a long rehab program, but sat out on Saturday and Sunday's games.
Outfielder Ryan Kalish will take Ortiz' roster spot.
